New from Cambridge University Press!

Edited By Keith Allan and Kasia M. Jaszczolt

This book "fills the unquestionable need for a comprehensive and up-to-date handbook on the fast-developing field of pragmatics" and "includes contributions from many of the principal figures in a wide variety of fields of pragmatic research as well as some up-and-coming pragmatists."

Book Information

This book proposes a theory of the distribution of adverbial adjuncts in aPrinciples and Parameters framework, claiming that there are few syntacticprinciples specific to adverbials; rather, for the most part, adverbialsadjoin freely to any projection. Adjuncts' possible hierarchical positionsare determined by whether they can receive a proper interpretation,according to their selectional (including scope) requirements and generalcompositional rules, while linear order is determined by hierarchicalposition along with a system of directionality principles and morphologicalweight, both of which apply generally to adjuncts and all other syntacticelements. A wide range of adverbial types is analysed; predicationaladverbs (such as manner, and modal adverbs), domain expressions likefinancially, temporal, frequency, duration and focusing adverbials;participant PPs (e.g. locatives and benefactives); resultative andconditional clauses, and others, taken primarily from English, Chinese,French and Italian, with occasional reference to others (such as German andJapanese).